Delta may offer early retirement packages to pilots

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/05/04/daily85.html

Saturday, May 9, 2009, 12:13pm EDT

Delta Air Lines Inc. wants to cut an unspecified number of pilots through an early retirement program, according to a Friday memo from the carrier’s pilots union.

Lee Moak, chairman of the Delta Air Line Pilots Association union, said Delta (NYSE: DAL) has proposed “a pilot retirement incentive program designed to address what management perceives to be a current pilot staffing overage.”

Moak did not state in the letter how many pilot jobs Delta seeks to cut. Delta is the largest airline flying out of the Dayton International Airport.

Under the proposal, pilots would have to meet certain length of service and age metrics to be eligible. Pilots opting for the program would receive a severance payment, retiree travel benefits and medical benefits “for a limited time.”

“At this point, a detailed discussion is premature, because the proposal is just that—a proposal,” Moak said. “No tentative agreement has been reached with Delta management, and no program is in place.”

The union’s negotiating committee received the proposal from Delta in April. The union’s master executive council reviewed it May 7 in New Orleans.

FULL story at link.

[msongs]

1. they can replace retiring pilots with young trainees from Saudi Arabia - Bushco allowed that nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That will NOT happen.

Trust me on this one...